Child's Play: Breakfast & Briefs
by TheFifthSister
Summary: A Monday morning brief leads to chaos in the B&B and a lot of fun for the youngest member of the family. Part of my Child's Play series.


Monday mornings at the B&B meant brief and breakfast. Myka and Helena sat at the table reading sections of the paper. Pete was playing with Emma, tickling her and throwing her up and down, much to her enjoyment.  
"If she throws up on you I want you to know it'll be your own fault," Myka told him as she turned the page over.  
Pete waved her off. "You wouldn't do that to your Uncle Pete, would you?" Emma shook her head. "Seeeeeee," he said smugly.  
"It's like having two children in the family, sometimes," Helena said to Myka. Pete stuck his tongue out at both as he put Emma down on the seat next to Helena. They heard the front door open and close and then Artie joined them at the table.  
"Good morning," he announced as he emptied a paper bag of pastries on to the plate in the middle of the table. He placed his bag on the floor as he sat down and pulled out another paper bag, this time carefully pulling out a cookie covered with pink icing and placed it in front of Emma. He pretended to be a grumpy curmudgeon most of the time but he definitely had a soft spot for the youngest member of the Warehouse family and was always giving her special treatment.  
"Thank you," Emma blurted out, batting her eyelids at Artie and grabbing the cookie. Helena and Myka both grinned.  
"Sweetheart, do you want to play with Mr Teddy while we talk?" Helena leaned over and asked Emma, pointing to the other room where they'd left her toys. Emma nodded, picked up her cookie and jumped down from her seat. As she walked out Pete playfully made a grab for the cookie and as he pretended to run after he knocked Artie's bag over with his foot and spilled the contents of it out. Pete and Artie immediately knelt down to pick everything up.  
"I got it. I got it," Pete insisted, filling his arms with all manner of items. His load seemed impossible large to be able to fit into Artie's bag. "One day you're gonna have to tell me where you got the Mary Poppin's bag." Artie just glared at him. "Okay, maybe not." Pete hurriedly put away everything, checking around him to make sure hadn't missed anything. "Got it all."  
Artie picked his bag up and moved it as far away from Pete as he could get it.  
"Can we get on with this now?" He asked Pete as he handed out files to each of them.

Emma was playing in the next room with her toys. She was sharing her cookie with her bear and telling him stories. She spotted something near the door and walked over to inspect it. It was a rag doll, not much bigger than one of her hands, and she'd not seen it before. Cautious like Myka, she nudged it with her foot and waited for a reaction. When nothing happened she picked it up to look at it, deciding that Mr Teddy needed a friend. She turned back to get her bear and as she reached for him he suddenly moved and started to move around like he was floating on thin air. Emma was mesmerized. The toy had never done that before.  
Her crayons on the coffee table started to stand on end and match across the top, the books sitting alongside them beginning to flap around the room seemingly as if they were birds taking flight. The room was filled with movement from all directions; the cushions, coasters, everywhere Emma looked something fun was occurring before her eyes.  
This was entertaining.

Artie was wrapping up the brief when they heard the door open and close. They'd been expecting Claudia back from a mission with Steve the night before but due to delayed flights they'd both missed out on breakfast.  
"Guys?" Claudia called out. "A little assistance?"  
Helena stood and gestured for everyone else to stay seated. "I'll lend a hand, you guys finish up."  
She strolled into the next room and stopped when she saw Claudia stood in the door way starring across the room. She followed her line of sight and was shocked as she watched objects of various shapes and sizes floating around the room with Emma at the centre.  
"Emma!" she shouted, startling her daughter.  
One minute Helena had been standing with Claudia and the next she was pinned to the ceiling. Claudia and Emma both stood staring at her, Emma's eyes wide.  
"A little assistance," Helena said testily to Claudia.  
Claudia looked helplessly between the two of them.  
"MYKA!"  
Myka came running in with Pete and Artie on her heels. She pulled up when she noticed Helena pinned to the ceiling and looked at Claudia for an answer.  
"Wha-what happened?"  
"Don't look at me!" Claudia held her hands up defensively. "I came in and everything was floating and then HG was stuck to the ceiling."  
"What, what do you mean floating?" Myka's eyes were firmly fixed on Helena, worrying that she was going to get hurt.  
"Emma was standing there and everything," Claudia gestured to the entire room."Was flying around her and then whoosh!" Claudia flung her arm up and pointed to Helena. "Do we need to call an exorcist?"  
"It's karma," Pete announced, crossing his arms and enjoying the moment. "Now the malagtite's on the other foot."  
"While I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, GET ME DOWN!" Helena glared at Pete. "And I think you mean cavarite."  
"It's the doll," Artie told Myka, pointing to the ragdoll Emma still had in her arm. Myka crouched down in front of her, watching Emma stare wide eyed at Helena.  
"Can I see that for a minute, sweetheart?" Myka asked, pulling gently on the doll.  
"Why's mummy up there?" Emma seemed to be as confused by the situation as her mother was. She handed over the doll and the minute she let go Helena suddenly fell, landing on Pete and taking them both to the floor.  
"While I appreciate hot women falling for me," Pete started. "Your wife is right there and she may kick my ass if you don't get off me."  
Myka sprung to their side, pulling Helena up and checking her over carefully for injuries. "Are you okay?"  
"Quite alright, just had the wind knocked out of me," Helena replied straightening out her clothes and fixing her hair.  
"I'm fine too, thanks for asking," Pete grumbled as he got to his feet. "You know, you guys could've gotten her a Barbie like most girls."  
"Some girls play with Barbies, others..."  
"Don't get her a sword!" Pete cut Myka off.  
Helena picked Emma up. Holding her tight and ignoring the bickering going on behind her, turned her attention to Artie. "What was that?"  
"That was one of the first puppets made, the puppeteer unknown, but it allows the possessor the ability to manipulate objects as a puppeteer would."  
"So, it turned Emma into Jean Grey?" Pete asked. "Awesome!" Myka and Helena both glared at him.  
"It was in my bag," He levelled Pete with a pointed look. "The bag that _you_ knocked over."  
"Oh," Pete's face scrunched up when he realised he was in trouble. "My bad."  
"For it to work you have to hold the doll so when you took it from Emma..."  
"I fell," Helena finished. "Well, a little warning would have been nice."  
Emma pulled on a strand of Helena hair to get her attention. "Mummy everything was flying and it was fun and Mr Teddy danced and I want to do it again."  
Myka and Helena both glared at Pete once again. "Maybe later." They said in unison.  
"First, Uncle Pete is going to tidy this room before Aunt Leena sees the mess,"Myka said more for Pete's benefit then Emma's.  
"But..." Pete started to protest as they all walked past him back into the other room. He looked around the room and it looked like a storm had passed through. "Artie? Artie can I at least use the doll?"  
"NO!" Artie shouted back.  
"Why do you even have that in your bag?" Claudia asked.  
"What?" He replied innocently. "I have a bad back."


End file.
